Talk about X-treme

I was reading this thing in Utne called sports that would never make it into the Olympics, and it was a list of differnt traditional sports and games from all over the world that came from ancient times but are still played today, and I just had to post my three faveorite from the list.

Qiang Huapao

Qiang Huapao is an accident waiting to happen. To win players must catch falling fireworks. Each firework is filled with a small iron ring and a strip of red silk. After the firework is shot skyward, teams of eight scramble to catch it on its way down and deposit it in the goal basket. The sport is most popular among Zhuang and Dong minorities and has been around for about 100 years.

Buzkashi

What do you get when you cross a bunch of Afgans on horseback with a diembolwed goat carcass. Buzkashi; Afghanistan's national sport. Translate as "goat grabbing" this sport is part rugby, part polo, and very violent. The aim is to sieze the carcass and pitch it across the goal line. Playres of yore commonly used knives to slash at horses and opponents alike. While gameplay has mellowed in modern times, crushed limbs and head wounds are still par for the course.

Kuuz Kuu

If you are a lovesick Kazakh boy, the best way to woo youre crush is with a heart-pounding game of Kuuz Kuu. All you need is two horses and a whip. Here's how it works. The girl gallops off and you give chase. As you close in, she whips you mercilessly with her riding crop. If you can't overtake her she gets to whip you some some more. But if you can grab hold of her horse's reins and slow down your sweetheart, you get a smooch.

And this one is not as extrme as the others, but I just had to add it.

Caber Toss

What could be manlier than clutching an 18 foot log between your kilt-clad knees and then tossing it up with a booming brouge grunt? Nothing, The winner of the caber toss is he who upends his caber in the finest, straightest line. The sport headlines Scoutlands Highland games, a mix of tradiditons in which bagpipes are played, hammers hurled and the traditaional dance the Highland fling is flung.

10:29 AM - 8/23/2007 - post comment

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